Wire Wrapped Jewelry

Steve & Susan Wright, Tumbleweed Glass Studio

Most people think Tumbleweed Glass Studio was named for the southwest. That was never the idea, even though now live in Texas. It is actually a reference to living on the road full time in an RV for 5 years, and crossing many highways as we hunted for new adventures. Our interests have evolved through many of those experiences and through the people we met and the skills they have shared. We enjoy being able to share our experiences and the skills we have learned.

Tumbleweed Glass studio is a husband and wife team, Susie and Steve Wright. We work together on projects and also each has our own area of wire wrap jewelry and glass design.

Our latest passion is for making wire wrap jewelry.

She wire wraps her fused glass as well as cabochons made from rare minerals. Susie wraps a lot of her fused glass often using dichroic-coated glass in her designs. The space age coating gives jewel-like shimmers to the glass. Many of her pieces take 5 or more firings to achieve the colors and surface she desires. One hallmark of many of her dichroic pieces is the crystal clarity of the glass creating a visual depth that draws you into the piece.

You will also find many of Susie’s pieces worked into pendants, necklaces, earrings and more by the use of wire wrap. The wire wrap pieces are contemporary in feeling in relationship to the space age materials. Other jewelry pieces combine Steve’s lampwork glass beads, natural stones and pearls and precious metal in intriguing and stunning pieces reminding the wearer of the individual detail taken in each and every design. Each major piece is created as individual design and while something similar can be made, no piece is truly ever duplicated.

Steve also makes Wire Wrapped jewelry. He specializes in making rings and has a popular instructional DVD.

He also has a signature lampwork bead, which is an encased sculptural pendant style bead that looks like a small paperweight with floral and other inclusions. He is the technician, enjoying the technical aspects of bead making. An iris that is a half-inch tall, or a slice of ladybug murrini that fits on the leaf of that small iris is the force behind his bead making. The inclusions are a big part of the technical aspect of his beads, but the encasement process also required attention to detail. The clear glass has to be peeled of all impurities, the entire exterior surface of the clear rods have to be removed. Once the glass is peeled, the resulting gather of clear is so amazingly transparent that it always causes a brief pause to admire it’s qualities. The challenges get Steve on the torch but the big payoff occurs when he hands one of his beads to someone. Seeing their eyes light up and a smile come to their face is an incredible driving force.